A Legend of the Future

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The first book translated into English by the patron saint of Cuban science fiction: a canonical, riveting parable in the vein of Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey about the intense pressures of life inside Communist Cuba.

This mesmerizing novel, reminiscent of Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, is a science­fiction survival story that captures the intense pressures—economic, ideological, psychological—inside Communist Cuba. A Legend of the Future by Agustín de Rojas, the father of Cuban Science Fiction, takes place inside a spaceship on a mission to Titan, one of Saturn’s moons, while back on Earth, warring super powers threaten the fate of humanity. When the ship malfunctions on the return journey, the crewmembers must face their innermost fears amidst experiments in psychological and emotional conditioning and aliens that may or may not be real.

Agustín de Rojas (1949­2011) is the patron saint of Cuban science fiction. A professor of the history of theater at the Escuela de Instructores de Arte in Villa Clara, he authored a canonical trilogy of novels consisting of Espiral (Spiral, 1982), for which he was awarded the David Prize; Una leyenda del future (A Legend of the Future, 1985); and El año 200 (The Year 200, 1990), all of which are scheduled for publication in English translation by Restless Books. While he was heavily influenced by Ray Bradbury and translated Isaac Asimov into Spanish, de Rojas aligned himself mostly with Soviet writers such as Ivan Yefremov and the brothers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. After the fall of the Soviet Union, de Rojas stopped writing science fiction. He spent his final years persuaded—and persuading others—that Fidel Castro did not exist.

Nick Caistor is a British journalist, non­fiction author, and translator of Spanish and Portuguese literature. He has translated Cesar Aira, Paulo Coelho, Eduardo Mendoza, Juan Marsé, and Manuel Vázquez Montalban, and he has twice won the Valle­Inclán Prize for translation. He regularly contributes to Radio 4, the BBC World Service, the Times Literary Supplement, and the Guardian. He lives in Norwich, England.